


A Cure for the Past

by RosesRBlue



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 22:33:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30062532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosesRBlue/pseuds/RosesRBlue
Summary: Cloud has had enough, especially when he gets pulled into a different universe where he's become a Third-Class Soldier. Now he just wants to get rid of Shinra and Jenova as soon as possible so he can finally live in peace, but what else is different about this world and where does he fit in it?
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Tifa Lockhart, Sephiroth/Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Angeal Hewley/Genesis Rhapsodos/Sephiroth/Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Cloud Strife
Comments: 4
Kudos: 53





	A Cure for the Past

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back(ish)!! I decided to return with the start of a new story that has been nibbling at my arm for some time now. I will be alternating between updating Tell Me How You Feel and this lovely gem here and I hope you guys enjoy it.
> 
> I have changed a couple of elements to help the story flow better for my writting and I have no idea what the world in Dissidia is called so I will be referring to it as Dissidia itself. Please! You have been warned! 
> 
> Disclaimer: None of the characters in the Final Fantasy Vll universe belong to me and we can all thank Square Enix for this wonderful story.

_I can’t breathe…_

My entire body feels like lead and no matter how hard I try, I can’t even move a single finger. Trying to force my lungs to take in any little amount of air, a single thought keeps repeating itself.

_Fuck Rufus…fuck this stupid materia…_

The materia in question is still clutched tightly in my right hand and the moment I touched it, my entire body seized up and dropped down to the (thankfully) soft bed of flowers in Aerith’s run-down church. That idiot hired me to bring the materia to him, claiming that they failed when they tried and believed that the mako in my system would be more effective somehow.

It was strange enough that it was sitting in the middle of the church, surrounded by lush vegetation which contrasted sharply with the concrete rubble that littered the rest of the ground. I figured that it was part of this sacred place’s odd miracles but now I’m regretting every decision I made in coming here.

_Is this really how I’m going to die?_

Imagine! After everything I’ve been through, my death comes in the form of a small round crystal that I was picking up for Rufus-fucking-Shinra like a dog.

The plain, partially demolished ceiling began getting blurrier as my brain was slowly drained of oxygen, and I would have sighed sadly when remembering the dumb fight I had with Tifa earlier that morning. After my sudden disappearance in to Dissidia (again), she practically begged me to take a break from my “adventures” and focus on the family I was pulling away from in this world.

No one batted an eye when I told them about the different heroes I met from different timelines and universes after I literally popped out of nowhere in the middle of Seventh Heaven. At first I thought the lack of reaction was due to their confidence in my abilities to return safely from whatever conflict I was pulled into. It was later that night when I went down stairs for a glass of water when Tifa voiced her thoughts:

_“You know, Marlene and Denzel didn’t even ask once where you went. They’re used to you disappearing all the time.”_

_I let out a loud huff, not looking back at where she sat while I filled up my glass from the tap._

_“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” I asked. It’s always best to coax her into coming out to say what she wants to say outright. We’ve had this conversation so many times that I got used to tossing back sarcastic responses that imply a false sense of being oblivious to her point._

_“Don’t you care about coming back to them? To us?” Her voice cracked a little at the last question._

_I took my time to drink the crisp water from my glass. I hated that I could no longer stand the site of her large eyes staring at me, angry tears threatening to run down her flustered face, hoping that I would one day bare my feeling out to her and agree to start “taking care of myself” or “slow down and stop being a hero all the time”._

_She knows as much as I do how little choice I have when getting dragged into the next world-threatening situation. She knows about the terrifying nightmares I’ve had almost every single night since I came to this fucking city all those years ago. She knows how much I’ve come to hate how much everyone has come to depend on me even though they claim they can handle-_

_“How much more of myself must I give, Tifa?” I asked lowly, placing the glass back into the sink and turning around to face her._

_She remained quiet and sat up straight in her stool, giving me a long, analysing stare._

_“What do you mean?”_

_“I mean,” I stared as I walked to the bar and placed my elbows on the wood, linking my fingers, “what exactly must I do to get you all off my back? You’re constantly telling me what to do and when to do it. When there are monsters popping up, you call me. When you want a delivery boy running around for you, you call me. When you want to play ‘mommy’ to Marlene and Denzel, you call m. And even though I do all that, the second I step out you start calling me ‘selfish’, ‘inconsiderate’, ‘cold’-“_

_“I just want you to take care of yourse-“_

_“You want me to take care of_ you _!”_

_The bar was silent. I heard the soft creek of wood from the upstairs floor so I guess we have an audience now. Good, hopefully they’ll spread the news of my outburst and everyone can finally loosen their grip on my life._

_“You don’t think I know about the Remnants scare that you had while I was away?” I must have looked crazy with my head tilted to the side and a nasty smirk tugging at the side of my mouth. My dark under-eyes and disheveled hair were just the icing on top of this toppling cake._

_“Marlene and Denzel? Really Tifa? That’s low, even for you. So I get summoned away by some kind of insane goddess to protect OUR universe and you come down at me like I’m some kind of dead-beat dad who left his kids at home, claiming to be going out to buy milk?”_

_She probably would have answered me at that if I hadn’t started laughing uncontrollably. My hands were shaking and I felt hot tears running down my face even as I threw my head back like this was the funniest show I had ever seen._

_“Cloud-“_

_“Like I had a choice!” I giggled, almost choking on short breaths. Was I hyperventilating?_

_“No one asked if I was okay; no one even asked what the hell happened in Dissidia. My life is tied to this planet and apparently it’s tied to you as well. No matter what I do, it’s never enough for either one of you.”_

_I pinched my fingers to the bridge of my nose, willing my headache to go down._

_I heard Tife sigh deeply and her stool screeched as she pushed herself away from the table. Her boots made her steps sound heavy as she walked towards me and I slapped her hand away from where she tried to place it on my arm._

_“Cloud,” her tone was pleading. “Please, I’m just trying to look out for you. Please don’t shut me out; we need to talk about this.”_

_“We’ve talked plenty. I’m tired, Tif. I’m really, really tired. I went from being a kid that everyone ignored, to some guy that everyone is hyper focused on. You all treat me like you own me-“_

_“We’re not trying to control you-“_

_“And yet that’s what you’re doing right now!”_

_We stared at each other for a while; both refusing to accept what the other was trying to say. I knew that Tifa was protective and she tended to show that by being a stubborn control-freak. The problem right now was that she wasn’t the only one pulling my strings. I couldn’t bring myself to confess how scared I was of being pulled away by another deity of some kind, to risk my body and life for a battle I wasn’t even involved in._

_Would my friends even remember me if I died in that universe or would I be erased from existence all together? Does the mako in my system make_ me _the alien on this planet?_

_“I just want to go to bed,” I exhaled. ”See you tomorrow morning.”_

_I heard our eavesdropper upstairs retreat as I pushed past Tifa, leaving her standing in the darkness of the kitchen._

_Of course I didn’t actually speak to her this morning. I didn’t even see her at all._

_I got up a couple of hours before sunrise to the soft vibration of my phone. Blinking at the bright screen, I re-read the new job offer from none other than Rufus Shinra. How did that bastard even get my number?_

_It looked simple enough. It was an order to pick up a strange material that suddenly appeared in the church. Rude and Reno had tried but they claimed that they couldn’t touch it at all._

_“At least he’s offering a decent price,” I mumbled._

_I could use a day away from the bar today. I’m almost certain everyone knew about our argument and either Yuffie or Barret would come barging through my door to chastise me for how I acted towards Tifa. Even though I despised Rufus, I was grateful to use this as an excuse to get away for a while without having to lose my temper at the people who were only trying to take care of me in their own misguided way._

_I skipped a quick breakfast and I let my mind drift as I mounted Fenrir and rode into the familiar route to Aerith’s church._

Now here am, dying on a bed of flowers like some kind of character in a tragic love story. My vision was blurred and all the sounds were muffled around me.

There was a pressure in my skull that made it feel as though my brain was trying to claw its way out for air. The tips of my fingers and toes tingled and I imagined any of my limbs suddenly twitching to force my body into some kind of movement.

_“Well, at least I can finally rest, I guess…”_

There was a sudden familiar sweet scent that washed over me at that thought and I heard a faint giggle as my eyes slipped closed, plunging me into an unknown darkness.

_“Not quite yet, Cloud.”_

_BBBEEEEEPPPPP!_

I almost fell out of my bed at the sound of an inhumane siren.

_Wait, what bed?_

I looked around the messy, cramped room I was in. A groans sounded from somewhere me and I heard the squeaking of cheap bed springs, followed by the heavy thud of feet landing on the floor. My body was partially covered in a thin blanket that reeked of bleach and sweat; instead of my thick blanket that had the calming flowery scent from the fabric softner that Marlene always insisted on buying.

_No._

“Hey Shorty-“ a pair of smelly boxers landed on my face, having been thrown by someone with a rough voice from somewhere, “-get up! Captain’s gonna go hard on us again if we’re late for orientation.”

_No..no…_

I grabbed the filthy underwear, pulling it slowly away from my face and staring up wide eyed at the muscular man ( _there’s_ _no way he’s a teenager)_ who looked down at me from where he stood over me.

“Whoa,” he laughed, clearly amused by whatever dumb look I had on my face. “Is the little Chocobo scared of the first day of Soldier training?”

_Soldier?_

The man’s green eyes glowed unnaturally with mirth and…

_Mako._

I threw the blanket off me and ran to the mirror mounted on our side of the door, stumbling over the empty containers and random shoes that littered the floor.

_No..no…no…_

Slamming my hands on either side of the mirror, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

This was not the younger, childish face I scarcely remembered having when I first joined the infantry. It was already bad enough that I somehow woke up in what I’m sure is the past.

_Or some twisted version of it._

Yet the face staring back at me was…mine. My face as it is in my current timeline.

The heavy eye-bags were missing and so were my ear piercings, though my face (and body) was that of my 20-year-old self. Everything. Even the unnatural green glow of mako eyes.

_What the hell is going on?_

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. Our Cloud is going through a really rough time right now and I want to give him a world where he can reach his potential with some extra support (if you know what I mean...)
> 
> I am going to keep everyone's ages vague but Cloud is probably the youngest and everyone else is proportionally older than him slightly.


End file.
